Caitlin climbed down the ladder followed by Alec.
"God, this was a stupid idea." Caitlin said, mostly to herself.
"I prefer Alec. But I was told to help the spirits and I'm helping them." Alec said as they made it to the ground. It looked like an underground tunnel. Caitlin rolled her eyes.
"Great, now where are we?" Caitlin asked.
"Judging from the dirt walls, we're underground." Alec replied, pointing at the wall to prove his point.
Caitlin gave Alec a dirty look. "Your sarcasm doesn't amuse me."
"I wasn't being sarcastic," Alec said. They walked down the tunnel, twisting and turning. Caitlin grabbed Alec's hand and squeezed it.
Alec almost crashed into something standing and the thing had something dangling from it. Alec looked at the thing, "Excuse me."
He realized that it was a skeleton that had decaying fabric dangling from the bones. It was chained to the wall by its ankles.
Caitlin's hold tightened on his hand. Alec winced and Caitlin continued walking. "I apologized to a skeleton."
He was more interested than he should be. There was an actual real skeleton right in front of him. When will he get another experience like this again? Probably never, so Alec took his time looking at the skeleton. He guessed it was a man, who was at least a bit taller than him; unless it was a woman.
"Alec," Caitlin said and grabbed his arm. "We have to help out that spirit. Not stop to look at skeletons." She started dragging him away from the skeleton.
"Can we give it a proper burial?" Alec asked.
Caitlin smiled, although she wasn't sure how they can do that. "Yes. Yes, we can."
Alec smiled at the thought. Maybe that's what the spirits wanted his help with; having a proper burial.
"Anyway, we're getting off track," Caitlin said. They kept walking down the tunnel.
"As far as I can see, there are no train tracks," Alec replied.
"You're not helping the cause," Caitlin said.
"You're no fun," Alec replied.
Caitlin scoffed, "I am fun."
Alec couldn't help adding, "In bed?"
Caitlin smacked Alec upside the head. They finally entered a room, with two extra skeletons with fabric dangling from their bones.
Alec looked around and noticed a head of a warthog on the room. He eyed the thing with disgust. "What kind of sick-o kills an animal for decoration? That's cruel and inhumane."
Caitlin was riffling through a desk that looked old. Her hands were shaking, keeping a lookout for black widows. Alec was looking through a bookshelf, his back towards the décor.
"What are we looking for?" Caitlin asked, confused.
"I don't know. It's something to help the spirits move on. This is the first time that I'm helping," Alec explained. He shrugged and looked at the warthog. "Can we please take that down? I think it's checking me out."
"Sorry, handsome. But it's checking me out," Caitlin replied. Alec scoffed and went to the décor. He pulled it off the wall as Caitlin found a yellowing piece of paper, "Hey, Gorgeous Nightmare. I found something."
Alec found a black and white photograph behind the warthog's plaque. "I found something too, sweetness." He looked at the picture and went to Caitlin. She held the paper to him.
Alec looked at the paper and frowned. He looked at the three names.
Lou - 1851 – Field Worker
Mary - 1841 - Maid
Eugene - 1840 - Field Worker
Alec frowned and looked at Caitlin. She looked uncomfortable.
"The person that owned this place was a slave owner?" Alec asked, horrified. He looked at the picture and turned to the back.
1875
Caitlin looked at it.
The dark-skinned woman in the picture was wearing a white dress. The two dark-skinned men were wearing overalls and hats.
Alec swallowed, recognizing them as the people he had seen when the woman, Mary, had led him to the place.
"You can't own slaves anymore," Alec said. "It's been abolished since 1865. It's the Thirteenth Amendment."
"That's why that person came to you. To lay them to rest when the truth—" Caitlin trailed off when the air dropped down. Their breath came out in mists.
Alec looked to see one very pissed off old man standing there.
Obviously the old man had a long life instead of the three others.
Alec guessed the man was the slaver owners. "You sick son of a bitch!"
Caitlin wasn't sure who Alec was seeing, but followed his line of sight, to an open space. She guessed that was the spirit, "Yeah. You still owned slaves ten years past when the thirteenth Amendment was placed in the Constitution."
Alec nodded, "And you killed that poor defenseless animal." He pointed to the warthog.
Caitlin needed a way out, that wasn't past the possible homicidal spirit.
The room shook and Caitlin looked up. The ground above them was cracked and circular. Dirt spilled down on top of them and Caitlin coughed after the dust settled
The things I do to help people, Caitlin thought.
"You know slavery was abolished, why would you keep poor innocent people?" Alec demanded.
The room shook and more dirt spilled on them. Caitlin and Alec moved the desk to the circular 'roof.'
"This is how I die; a cave-in. When I had that experience with those butterflies," Caitlin replied, annoyed.
More dirt spilled out and Alec helped her on the desk. Alec got on the desk and the old man 'glided' towards them.
Alec wasn't sure if was tears from dirt in his eyes, or what, but he was sure that the room started spinning in different colors.
Sunlight appeared in the opening above them.
There were white and beige colors swirling around the old man. The old man screamed and the room started shaking.
Alec grabbed Caitlin around the waist and picked her up. Roots were in the dirt, leading up.
"Hurry," Mary said and Caitlin started climbing up. It looked like she got pulled out and Alec looked towards the spirits. More colors appeared in the swirl; reds, blues, greens, purples, and pink.
"Thanks, friend," The beige color said as the four spirits disappeared. Alec jumped up and grabbed the lowest hanging root. He pulled himself up on the first two roots, but it felt like cold hands helped pull him up.
Alec grabbed the grass and heaved himself into fresh air.
Caitlin looked at Alec, "That was totally wicked awesome."
Alec spit some dirt out, "I think that's was what that one lady meant when she said 'others.'"
He felt multiple cold hands rubbing his back and shoulders. It felt friendly and kind of parental.
Caitlin looked startled.
Alec noticed a brunette woman with green eyes running her hand through Caitlin's brown hair.
"It's okay sweetie. You did fine," The woman said.
Alec smiled and Caitlin looked at Alec. She pointed towards her hair, giving him a stricken look. Alec stopped smiling, "Holy shit. Is it bad?"
Caitlin spluttered, "No. It looks fine."
Alec ran his hand through his hair and looked at his hand. There were some black smudges on his fingers. The hair dye was leaking out. He decided that he didn't want to dye his hair anymore. "Fuck it." He stood up and helped Caitlin up. "We should get the cops on this." They started walking out of the woods. "I would like to know what would happen if we went to Gettysburg."
Caitlin smiled, "That would be interesting."
Alec nodded.
"Alec," The deep voice drawled out. Alec felt goose bumps pop up and he shivered. It was weird because it wasn't cold outside and it was in the afternoon too. "Remember who you are."
Alec smiled; he knew that voice. It was familiar to him. It was the voice of his real father. He felt something click into place.
He knew who he was and what his purpose is.
His name is Alec Lightwood. His father is Azrael, the archangel Death. He has a gift. That gift is to help his father Death move spirits to the afterlife.
A/N: Remember, I got the idea from the movie Haunting in Connecticut: Ghosts of Georgia. It involved slaves too.
I had to look up information on slavery and I feel bad because of writing this in. It was needed because I got the idea from the movie.
